INTERVIEW: The good thing is being in the team

Defender turned midfielder Courtney Meppen-Walter spoke to us this week about his change in role and about his first goal of the season at Newport last Saturday.

“We were all very disappointed with the result at Newport,” he said. “I thought we played very well in the first half against what is a very good team.

“There are positives we can take out of it but I think we should have got at least a point. It’s been and gone now and the focus has to be on the next game. We’re all looking to getting a win on Saturday now.”

“I enjoyed getting my first goal of the season,” he told us. “Hopefully there are plenty more to come. I wouldn’t mind one from something other than a header next time, but if it is with my head I’ll definitely take it.

“It’s great for us that it came from a set piece as well. We’ve got a lot of big lads and we want to be a threat when we go in for set pieces. I know Troy [Archibald-Henville] got one like it the other week, but there’s no competition between me and him. He’s a good lad and I jusy enjoy playing in the same side as him.”

On the switch to a holding midfield role, he said: “I’m enjoying it. I feel comfortable with what I have to do and I’m always confident before the game that I’ll cope with the job I’m being asked to do. The good thing is actually being in the team, whatever position it is.

“I’m still getting used to it at the moment so I’m not expressing myself as much as I want to. I’m sure that’ll come as the game goes by, if the manager decides to keep using me there.”

“I had Paul Thirlwell beside me on Saturday and he’s done that job for years, but I do like to think I can spray the passes round a bit more than he can,” he joked. “He helped me a lot at Newport and he was talking to me all the time. That kind of thing is really good because it’s a job he knows inside out.

“I don’t mind being asked to do a job like this because I’m happy to play anywhere. However, I do genuinely like that position and I’m getting more confident with it all the time. I played there a few times with Manchester City so it isn’t completely new to me. I’ll give it everything I can every time I’m asked to play there.”

And on the current league position, he said: “We’re all confident we can climb the table, no matter what. It’s a good dressing room and we’ve just got to try and fit it all together. We know we need to stop conceding silly goals and, if we do that, we’ll get there.

“We’re definitely better than where we are, but we can’t just keep saying that. We’ve got to get out there and prove it. It’s Cambridge on Saturday and I think we generally play our better stuff at home. We have to look at getting three points and the only way to achieve that is to play the kind of football we know we’re capable of.”

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